‘DON’T BETRAY ZAMBIANS ON MINES’
ZAMBIANS must be careful with comments from Zambia Chamber of Mines president Goodwell Mateyo because he is bent on ensuring that the unfair and shady games of mining companies continue at the expense of citizens, Euronext Minority Shareholders of ZCCM-IH said recently.
Euronext Minority Shareholders representative Thierry Charles said in a statement that Mr Mateyo’s statement to counter issues raised by chairperson of the select committee appointed to negotiate the sale of Konkola Copper Mines Anthony Mumba was baseless.
Mr Charles said to scare the Zambian people, Mr Mateyo stated a far-fetched US$5 billion for compensation to increase the stakes in all mines to 30 percent.
“The value of an asset is linked to the profits it generates. How is it possible that mines that have been losing money for years can be worth hundreds of millions of dollars?
“We wish to warn the Zambian people and their parliamentarians to be careful with the misleading comments.”
Mr Charles alleged that the sole objective of Mr Mateyo’s statement was to ensure that the unfair and shady games of mining companies continued at the expense of the Zambian people and the shareholders of ZCCM-IH, including Napsa,” he said.
Mr Charles challenged Mr Mateyo to provide details of his US$5 billion astronomical sum.
‘‘The value of an asset is linked to the profits it generates. How is it possible that mines that have been losing money for years can be worth hundreds of millions of dollars?’’
“His example for the Kansanshi Mine is particularly staggering. His valuation of US$8.5 billion is stated without any explanation. According to him, the additional 10 percent to be repurchased would be valued at US$850 million.
“A few months ago, rumours had circulated that First Quantum Minerals had proposed to buy back the 20 percent Kansanshi shares of ZCCM-IH for US$700 million. We deduce from this that mining companies would offer peanuts to buy ZCCM-IH’s mining interests while Zambians would have to compensate them at the high price to increase the same stares in all mines to 30 percent,” Mr Charles said.
He said it would be appropriate for Mr Mateyo as the president of the Chamber of Mines to explain to the people of Zambia the business model of most Zambian mines.
“Mr Mateyo voluntarily forgets to mention that ZCCM-IH received only crumbs from its 2018 equivalent 96,571t copper production. With a corresponding turnover of US$630 million (2018 average LME copper price: US $6525/t), ZCCM-IH got only US$20 million from its 20 percent interest in the Kansanshi Mine, or 3.2 percent,” Mr Charles said.